Geneva, Switzerland - Economic development is widely assumed to bring the blessings of higher standards of living and to be a quick fix for cash poor countries. However, there are many who look at economic development and instead consider it to be a curse in the "global south" - South America, Africa, and Asia - and also in parts of the more industrialised world where indigenous peoples live.

All too often, development projects consist of a private, multinational enterprise working with a national or local government to obtain access to a natural resource, extract it, and then transport it elsewhere for processing. Residents of the country have access to the extraction jobs but processing, manufacturing and other higher-paying jobs that require technical skills are cultivated elsewhere. At the same time, profits from the project largely do not reach the people who bear the brunt of its environmental and health impacts.

Under the Fourteenth Amendment, children born in the United States are citizens, even if their parents are not. Inspired by Arizona's new (and partially suspended) law regulating unauthorized immigration, Senators Mitch McConnell, John Kyl, John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Representative John Boehner, and other Republican leaders have proposed considering amending the Constitution to deny citizenship to children born in the United States but whose parents are undocumented.

As law professors we oppose the proposed change, not only for historical and legal reasons, but also on deeply personal grounds. We are the face of the children of illegal aliens, people who are not just abstractions but parts of the human mosaic of the American nation. As it happens, all three of us are the grandchildren of individuals who entered the United States without authorization. From our perspective, the proposal is unwise.Read more

On a recent late morning in Nicaragua I landed in a Soviet-made helicopter (a remnant of the revolutionary Sandinistas’ 1980s past) in the remote community of Awas Tingni to witness a historic event, the handing over of the long sought after title to the community’s traditional territory, an area of some 74,000 hectares, or 285 square miles. For the first time ever Nicaragua would formally recognize that these lands belong to Awas Tingni, a Mayangna community of about 1,500 people and one of the many Mayangna, Miskito, and Rama communities that are indigenous to the country’s vast Atlantic Coast region. This day would be the culmination of a struggle that has been at forefront of efforts by indigenous peoples worldwide to reverse historical trends and regain control of ancestral lands and full respect for their human rights. Read more